Distant Realizations in the Uber Driver Ventures -- Uber Driving Ventures of 8-26-16

The week before, I had attended a camping trip where I began feeling a restored faith in humanity. It took me awhile to finally write this story and I came back from an additional camping trip yesterday.

With the state of the world being where it is, with hatred and a history of people not being very nice to me, the exact opposite has been occurring lately. At my camping trip, at 4:30am on the last night of partying, I was hanging out at one of the campsites far away from mine and everyone wanted to go to sleep. Everyone except for me hanging out at that time was staying at the area we were at. One of the people I was hanging out with was kind enough to walk me back to my camp without any expectations besides being a kind soul.

Tips while driving for Uber and even Lyft where you can tip in the app are rare and this night I was lucky enough to receive a pretty penny in tips. I will never take this day for granted.

It was about 1am or so on a Saturday night and I was doing my usual weekend driving rounds. I ended up in Lincoln Park on somewhere around Halsted and Ashland picking people up from the Alinea restaurant (an expensive place with Michelin stars aka it's very very good). These people (a couple, 1 man, 1 woman) had spent $1750 dollars for the pair of them. If I ever spent that much money on food and was able to afford it, I'd melt! Their ride request ended up being all the way to Johnsburg, IL, which is in Mchenry County aka about an hour and 15 minutes of a drive. At least I knew I would get a hefty penny because there was 1.5 surge. I needed it that day too.

During my driving ventures to the land of far away, I was mostly having a talk with the woman because after a short while, the man probably had a food baby and lavish drinks and fell asleep (only excuse for passing out in my back seat because I'm used to passing out in my friend's cars). We were talking about careers. Her husband had owned the family car dealership in McHenry County and she was an account manager who worked from home. They had been married for a little bit and were in the process of bettering their lives... and taking a spontaneous trip to an expensive restaurant. It eventually got on the topic of relationships and dating, especially with a female. I mentioned how I would cry rainbow tears and kiss the floor if a man took me to TGI Fridays and treated me (using this place as an example) since I've been treated poorly by many, especially men and boyfriends. My luck is so bad I doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize the shit luck I have, hence why I've abstained from dating for the past 15 months. After I dropped the couple off in their nice home, they gave me a 20 dollar tip (the ride was 75 dollars after surge and still my priciest ride to date). I've been pretty down on my monetary luck lately and people rarely tip with Uber or Lyft at all; I was ready to cry, but managed to hold myself together. I expressed my gratitude and was onto my next adventure in Johnsburg, Illinois, which is generally way out of Uber scope, especially at about 2:30am at that point.

After that ride, it was "peemergency" o'clock. I am very unfamiliar with that area and didn't know where the nearest 24 hour Jewel or Walmart was. I come prepared with accessories in case I have to pee and can't make it to the nearest bathroom facility. I drove a few blocks down the road and saw a giant open area of grass in a place where it was very dark. I pulled into the grass, turned my lights off, did my business discretely, and drove a few more blocks to chill out for a few minutes and text my friends to see if I would get any rides. I sent my first text message to my friend who was still awake and got a ride from Johnsburg to McHenry (about a 15 minute drive). I take this fellow from a bar to back home and we had a decent conversation. I then drive a few more blocks to pull over and sit on my phone for about 10-15 minutes to see if anyone would summon me. Surely enough, a few minutes later, I was summoned 25 minutes away to Crystal Lake. I normally don't accept rides that far away and also needed gas in my car. I figured because it was about after 3am and I was far away from Uber scope. I also didn't want to get canceled on and waste my time. Due to what time it was, I figured someone would be needing a ride to O'Hare airport and accepted the ride with a lot of reluctance. Several closed gas stations later, I eventually find one while praying the ride requester doesn't cancel on me. To top it off, the ride requester also dropped a pin, which means they didn't give me an exact address and I could be driving several blocks away from where the person actually is.

I eventually arrived at this approximate location about 30-35 minutes later, still not being canceled on, and called the person. It turns out the ride requester was actually requesting it for his friend down the street and I need to get ahold of her instead. I eventually end up getting a hold of her and finding her. I ended up taking her to Hoffman Estates, which was 35 minutes away from where I was and it was towards going back to Chicago. I end up having a conversation with this 19 year old girl who walked into my car and she seemed like someone I would be slightly interested in being friends with, though she had a very troubled past (ex lots of miscarriages and her dad recently passed away). The 35 minute ride ends up finishing and it's now almost 4am. I get this young lady to her friend's house and he also gives me a 20 dollar tip. I was ready to hypothetically piss myself because I've never received more than like 17 18 dollars in tips in a night if I'm lucky. So I made 40 dollars in tips that night. Her friend whose house I was dropping her off at, a 42 year old gay male (aka way older than someone I'd comfortably hang out with) asked me if I wanted to stay and chill awhile. My unsafe senses weren't tingling and I had been lacking social interaction due to working so much and not having seen my friends for awhile. We chilled outside this dude's garage for about 3 hours until we were all exhausted and wanted to go to sleep. It wasn't an uncomfortable encounter, but it was slightly awkward... plus the young lady was dealing with drama with one of her ex boyfriends, which I didn't want to listen to. At about 7am, I end up going home and passing the fuck out (on my bed).

Even when you're down on your luck, if you're kind to others on a regular basis, kindness will spontaneously be returned to you. There's always faith to be held onto in humanity, even in this ridiculousness. Thank you kind tippers out there! Kindness will always be appreciated and I will continue to pay it forward!

The Skeptic of the Rideshare Model: Can Full Time Drivers Make a Real Profit, Especially on the New Uber System?

That moment when your skeptic has been showing about whether or not you can make a profit driving for Uber (and Lyft)... until your friend shows you a $1600+ dollar earnings week and a passenger shows you a $1900+ dollar earnings week. I think both of these people drove 50-60 hours (of being signed into the app) though. 

I've been asked by plenty of people if you can really make money by driving for a rideshare company. I tell people they can make money if they "actually drive" and get out there; I also tell people I sometimes fear the cost of repairs, gas, and other overhead may feel like it's exceeding my profits. I also have various other passions and gigs I'm trying to pursue, as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle I neglected in college. 

I started driving for Uber and Lyft at the end of January, 2016 and one of my friends who I live with started driving in August, 2015. We both live in Chicago. For a few months this year, Uber was doing this promotion of "guaranteed hour rates", where you're guaranteed a certain amount of money (ex $35 dollars per hour) if you get at least 1.5 rides per hour, accept at least 80% of the rides, and stay online for the majority of the guarantee period. This is handy for days when it is very "dead", no surge, you just get a number of 10 minute or less rides, or you have to wait for your passengers for awhile. 

Now, this rate is gone and your "guaranteed hours" is now somewhere between 1.3 and 1.5 surge rate (most of the time) in a giant bubble within the central part of the city. I've also noticed that during rush hour periods (early weekday mornings 5-9am and after 4pm to about 8pm on weekdays) is less crowded and not surged anymore. What happened?

Are people becoming "slaves" to the system? Where you as a "contractor" drive and drive and drive until your car goes into the ground, but they don't care. They're taking their giant royal fee of 20-25 percent out of your check, reducing the amount of fare drivers can make behind your back, and not caring about you. Although you can write off some of your overhead at tax time, I feel like there's a giant overhead cost to driving, excluding time of waiting for passengers. For instance, if I make $200 dollars net in a day driving, I'd generally have to fill up my tank twice; that's $80 dollars straight into the gas tank. The corporate honchos don't care. They're making money! Without these guarantees, I feel like I sometimes make $15 or less an hour while wearing out my expensive car and needing more frequent maintenance. Plus, I think I have "driver's knee" now and fear causing injury to myself from driving. 

Why do you think rideshare companies keep recruiting drivers and not passengers? It's where the corporations make the brunt of their money. Don't forget about the wear and tear in your car. Chicago is notorious for lots of potholes, which destroys the suspension. What about that passenger who opens your door into a pole and scratches it? That person who spills something in your back seat? The parts you need fixed? That random ticket you acquired from a red light camera? It seems to be your losses and everyone else's gain. The vicious cycle continues.

I also drive an older car (2004 Toyota Highlander). Since my car is larger and older, my car requires even more maintenance and costs than your average 4 door sedan that's newer. I also have an independent insurance policy where it costs more to have it solo, as well as rideshare insurance costing more. I am over 25 now and have no accidents on my record (*knock on wood*), but I still feel like I pay a ton. A lot of companies reject rideshare drivers, but luckily the insurance I was on already was the only place that didn't reject me. 

It's like a facade of making a profit, but actually digging yourself into a hole of further debt. The head honchos get all the money and the drivers are the little peons to the people on their thrones.

Is the ridesharing model "really" lucrative for full time drivers? Some people make lots of money full time, but part time drivers can make an extra $200 or so dollars per week and not put as much wear and tear into your car or have to deal with as much overhead. You could do it full time, but as for me, I'm going to transition to part time!

Humans of Rideshare Drivers

Me:

I sometimes feel insecure when telling people I do Uber (and Lyft) driving full time vs. my shiny "professional" desk job. I had a job as a Web Developer which I landed right out of college. It ended up not working out and I decided I ultimately want to be a writer and performer. I couldn't find another job in time and was basically left to either quit or get fired. I chose to quit because I wanted to leave on my terms and not have my morale be crushed. One of my friends who I live with suggested rideshare driving to me because I already had a car. I had always wanted to be self-employed, but ended up having to do so sooner than planned. Anything you do, you have to act professional no matter what, but I shouldn't feel ashamed because I'm setting out to make something for myself; at least doing something to make me money. Plus I have this blog to share my stories. Web Developer and Uber driver are just titles. I need to keep telling myself this!